Tuesday, November 07, 2006

A Woman's Right to Choose, Part 2

Fascinating question over at Patterico's Pontifications today on partial-birth abortion. The question is directed only at those who are in favor of it (or don't oppose it, take your pick). The results can be very interesting.

The partial-birth abortion debate was the major issue that made me pro-life. It was startling to realize that a woman could have an abortion at the same age that my son was born (38 weeks). The L.A. Times actually had an honest assessment of the impact of the law and how many abortions are done after 20 weeks:

Only 1% to 2% of abortions take place after the 20th week of pregnancy.

Of these, about 3,000 to 5,000 per year are done with D&X. Doctors say only a small percentage of those are done because of medical complications or fetal deformity.

That means that most are done for reasons that most people would probably find objectionable (such as sex selection).

I think for most pro-choicers, the question is not about the baby but about the woman. Why should anyone be able to tell a woman she must have a child she doesn't want? For pro-lifers, the question is different: why should anyone be allowed to kill their child unless there are extraordinary circumstances, such as life-threatening ones or rape or incest, involved? The answers given present much food for thought.